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UNIT1

RUSSIAN CUSTOMS

READING FOR ANALYSIS

TEXT 1.

RUSSIAN CUSTOMS

T

he current Russian word for Customs, tamozhnya, originated in the times of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The word tamga, in Tatar, meant "a Customs tax, the official who collected it, and the stamped seal or statement verifying that it had been paid". Each market had its tamozhnya, and the right to collect duties could be purchased from the State. This right was often acquired by powerful merchants.

The Russian Customs Service, however, predates even the Mongol Yoke (1237-1480). Some three centuries before, in Kievan Rus, taxes were collected for the transportation of goods through the frontiers of its individual princedoms.

Thus, Russia has had a Customs Service in some form for the past 1000 years. Moreover, for almost all of that history, it has been much more than a force for keeping out contraband. In fact, it has been a powerful, highly politicized administrative organ, serving mainly protectionist leaders.

The first Russian Customs statute was handed down in 1667. It was strict towards foreigners, who were allowed to trade only in frontier towns on pain of confiscation. A special tsar's certificate was required for trading further inside the country.

Such protectionism held sway for most of the next 300 years. Every tsar, from Peter the Great to Nicolas II, approved laws limiting the import of foreign goods and defending Russian producers.

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